Croatian guardsmen shot four people to death at a roadblock Wednesday and Serb rebels blocked a strategic highway in a third day of ethnic fighting that violated a cease-fire.
Truce observers, arriving in Croatia under terms of the widely ignored peace agreement arranged by the European Community, said the turmoil prevented them from doing their job.Some of the fiercest fighting in recent days occurred on Tuesday in the Croatian stronghold of Osijek. Bodies being brought to the local hospital raised the known toll in the area to 14 dead and 28 wounded by this morning.
The total number of dead in Osijek and surrounding villages in the secessionist republic's ethnically mixed Slavonia region rose to about 20, according to reports.
The cease-fire went into effect on Monday. Despite the widespread violations, the 12-nation EC continued preparations for an urgent international peace conference on Yugoslavia in The Hague on Saturday.
German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher repeated Wednesday that his country would recognize Croatian and Slovenian independence unless the fighting stopped.